Materials and Methods

The Methods section should include only information that was available at the time the plan or protocol for the study was written; all information obtained during the conduct of the study belongs in the Results section.

Selection and Description of Participants

Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. The guiding principle should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way. When authors use variables such as race or ethnicity, they should define how they measured the variables and justify their relevance.

Technical Information

Clearly state the department or laboratories where the work was carried out. Mention whether approvals of Institute Research Council and Ethics Committees were obtained prior to commencement of the study.Identify the methods, apparatus (manufacturer's name and address in parenthesis) and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to repeat the experiments. If the procedures involve an assay, include data on its accuracy, e. g. specificity, sensitivity and recovery. Give reference to established methods including statistical methods. Provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known. Describe new or substantially modified methods. Give reasons for using them and evaluate their limitations.

When reporting experiments on human subjects, include whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the committee on human experimentation of the institution in which the experiments were done or in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975. While reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the Animal Ethics Committee or the National Research Council's guidance for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dosage(s) and route(s) of administration and mention in parenthesis manufacturer’s name and location. Do not use patient's name, initials or hospital numbers. Details of statistical methods adopted for analysis of data should be described. Levels of significance should be clearly highlighted.

Results

Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data already given in tables, illustrations or both. Emphasize and summarize only important observations. Each table should be typed continuously with the text. Legends for illustrations/figures should be typed continuously with the text. 

Discussion

Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and conclusions derived from them. Do not repeat in details data given in the results section. Include in the discussion the implications of the findings and their limitations and relate the observations to other relevant studies. Link the conclusion with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by your data. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. Discussion should be relevant and an unnecessary lengthy presentation should be avoided.

Conclusion

A very brief work summary note along with a concluding remark should be given. This should cover the work's uniqueness and implications as well as how it advances our overall understanding of science today.

Acknowledgements

Brief acknowledgements of persons who have made genuine contributions to the manuscript and who endorse the data and conclusions should be included. The Acknowledgments section should not include funding source, language editing companies, and other biomedical institutions providing paid services.

References

Only appropriate references should be cited. Generally, for a full research paper, the number of references should not exceed 30. Use the Vancouver style of referencing, which is based on the formats used in the U.S. National Library of Medicine ‘Index Medicus’. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Any manuscript not following the Vancouver system will immediately be sent back to the author for revision. The recommended style for references is as per the National Information Standards Organization NISO Z39.29-2005 (R2010). Bibliographic References as adapted by the National Library of Medicine for its databases. Details can be assessed at: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

Number the references consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text and legends by Arabic numerals (in parentheses). For example:

• This result was later contradicted by XXX and YYYY [1].
• This effect has been widely studied [2-5, 7]

The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text. If available, please always include DOIs as full DOI links in your reference list.

The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents. Reference Types and relevant examples are given below:

Reference Types:
A. Articles in Journals
B. Books and Other Monographs
C. Article by DOI
D. Online document

A. Articles in Journals

A. 1. For a standard journal article,

i. If authors are six or fewer, list all the authors. For example: Dabla PK. Unlocking new potential of clinical diagnosis with artificial intelligence: Finding new patterns of clinical and lab data. World J Diabetes. 2024;15(3):308-10. doi:10.4239/wjd.v15.i3.308.

 Any article describing a study involving human and/or animal subjects should provide the information of its approval by the related institution/organization’s Institutional Review Board and, if available, corresponding approval ID, stated explicitly in the Footnotes section.

ii. If authors are seven or more, List the first six authors, followed by et al. For example:

Parchwani D, Dholariya S, Patel DD, et al. Association of the Human Leptin Receptor Gene (rs1137101; Gln223Arg) Polymorphism and Circulating Leptin in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome in the Indian Population. Indian J Clin Biochem. 2023;38(4):505-11. doi:10.1007/s12291-022-01065-5.

iii. If volume with supplement

Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002;42 Suppl 2:S93-9.

iv. If Issue with supplement

Glauser TA. Integrating clinical trial data into clinical practice. Neurology. 2002;58(12 Suppl 7):S6-12.

v. If pagination in roman numerals

Chadwick R, Schuklenk U. The politics of ethical consensus finding. Bioethics. 2002;16(2):iii-v.
 

vi. If article contains retraction

Feifel D, Moutier CY, Perry W. Safety and tolerability of a rapidly escalating dose-loading regimen for risperidone. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63(2):169.
Retraction of: Feifel D, Moutier CY, Perry W. J Clin Psychiatry. 2000;61(12):909-11.

Article containing a partial retraction:

Starkman JS, Wolder CE, Gomelsky A, Scarpero HM, Dmochowski RR. Voiding dysfunction after removal of eroded slings. J Urol. 2006 Dec;176(6
Pt 1):2749. Partial retraction of: Starkman JS, Wolter C, Gomelsky A, Scarpero HM, Dmochowski RR. J Urol. 2006 Sep;176(3):1040-4.

vii. If article is republished with corrections

Mansharamani M, Chilton BS. The reproductive importance of P-type ATPases. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2002;188(1-2):22-5. Corrected and republished from: Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2001;183(1-2):123-6.

viii. If article with published erratum

Malinowski JM, Bolesta S. Rosiglitazone in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a critical review. Clin Ther. 2000;22(10):1151-68; discussion 1149-50. Erratum in: Clin Ther. 2001;23(2):309.

ix. If article published electronically ahead of the print version

Yu WM, Hawley TS, Hawley RG, Qu CK. Immortalization of yolk sac- derived precursor cells. Blood. 2002 Nov 15;100(10):3828-31. Epub 2002 Jul 5.

A. 2. For organization as author. Example:

Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86.

A. 3. For both personal authors and organization as author. Example:  

Vallancien G, Emberton M, Harving N, van Moorselaar RJ; Alf-One Study Group. Sexual dysfunction in 1,274 European men suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms. J Urol. 2003;169(6):2257-61.

A. 4. For article with no author given. Example: 21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002;325(7357):184.12.

B. Books and Other Monographs
B. 1. Personal author(s)

Blenkinsopp A, Paxton P. Symptoms in the pharmacy: a guide to the management of common illness. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1998.

B. 2. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author

Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.

B. 3. Author(s) and editor(s)

Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001.

B. 4. Organization(s) as author
American Occupational Therapy Association, Ad Hoc Committee on Occupational Therapy Manpower. Occupational therapy manpower: a plan for progress. Rockville (MD): The Association; 1985 Apr. 84 p. National Lawyer's Guild AIDs Network (US); National Gay Rights Advocates (US).
AIDS practice manual: a legal and educational guide. 2nd ed. San Francisco: The Network; 1988.

B. 5. Chapter in a book

Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

B. 6. Conference proceedings
Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

B. 7. Conference paper

Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.

C. Article by DOI

Slifka MK, Whitton JL. Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine production. J
Mol Med. 2000; https://doi.org/10.1007/s001090000086

D. Online document

Doe J. Title of subordinate document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. 1999. http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document. Accessed 15 Jan 1999.

Case Report/Series

Cases with clinical and laboratory significance or implications can be reported. Up to 1500 words excluding references (up to 10) and abstract (up to 100), up to three pictures. Informed written consent from the patient is mandatory. Do not use abbreviations for diseases or investigations.

The title should be clinical, straightforward, and accurately reflect the diagnosis and main point of the case report/series. Do not include the following in the title: “a case report”, “rare case”, “first case” patient’s age, sex, or ethnicity, and exclamatory mark.

The following format is to be followed:

1. Title page
2. Summary and keywords
3. Introduction/Background
4. Case Presentation
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion
7. Acknowledgement (if any)
8. References

Title Page

Same as for Original Research Studies (Refer above)

Summary

A summary of the entire case report is equivalent to an abstract. Use a maximum of 100 words summarising the case presentation and outcome. Describe the essential information of the case and emphasize the learning points. The summary should be distinct from the introduction/background section.

Key words

Same as for Original Research Studies (Refer above)

Introduction/background

Give the context of the case, emphasizing the prevalent health problem, and its relevance with a clear message as a research question.

Case presentation

Provide a comprehensive account of the presenting features, including the medical/social/family history. Make it as anonymized as possible i.e. avoid using exact ages, ethnicities, place names, calendar dates, and exact occupations, unless essential to clinical discussion. Do not name your institution in the text. However, do mention the following:

a. How did the patient present? Signs and symptoms.
b. Relevant history.
c. Explain your findings and how they influenced your decisions.
d. Use only internationally accepted units for measurements and scientific names of drugs. Include the manufacturer in brackets when describing
equipment
e. All investigations that create a background picture and that are crucial to management decisions should be discussed in full – including the limitations of investigations and problems in their interpretation.
f. Include pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment, e.g. surgery, physiotherapy, supportive care.
g. Include comprehensive follow-up data (if applicable).
h. Include details of surveillance and up-to-date guidelines for disease outcome/monitoring
i. If the patient has died, then do mention whether this is related to the illness described

Present information in ways that are easy to follow. Use diagrammatic flowcharts and timelines where appropriate. Results may be tabulated or presented graphically. Make clear that you have drawn figures and that these have not been taken from other publications or the Internet.

DO NOT INCLUDE PATIENT IMAGE
 

Discussion

In this section describe mechanisms of pathology/injury, current guidelines, diagnostic pathways, and the points of interest of the case. Cite up-to-date supporting literature. Include a summary of relevant clinical guidelines. Ensure that any content used from reference sources are cited. Please do not reproduce tables or figures from other publications without obtaining permission for reproduction before submission.

Acknowledgments

Same as for Original Research Studies (Refer above)

References

Same as for Original Research Studies, except no. of permitted references (Referabove)

Review /Mini-review/ Special Papers/Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Review papers should be in the same format as the full research paper. However, the abstract need not be structured. The topic reviewed should preferably be on the current medical problems. Author(s) should have contributed substantially in the field of review work. The proposal should include a synopsis or brief outline of the review and a list of publications of the author on the subject of the review. The length of the
article should be as mentioned above.

It is recommended to refer to PRISMA 2020 guidelines (http://www.prisma- statement.org/) (if applicable). The PRISMA statement contains a 27-item checklist. It will be reasonable to fulfil the requirements of these items during the preparation of a review article or a meta-analysis. A broad overview for reference is:

Ethical Statement / Institutional Ethical Committee statement

Any article describing a study involving human and/or animal subjects should provide the information of its approval by the related institution/organization’s Institutional Ethical Committee/Review Board and, if available, the corresponding approval ID.

Conflict-of-interest statement

A conflict-of-interest statement is required for all article and study types. It is important in the interests of transparency and helping reviewers to assess any potential bias in a study’s design, interpretation of its results, or presentation of its scientific/medical content.

Open-Access

The articles published in APFCB NEWS is an open-access articles that was selected by anbin-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers.

Copyright and Publishing

News APFCB is an open-access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, download, copy, print search, or link to the full texts of its articles and allow readers to use them for any other lawful purpose provided the original work is properly cited. The author retains copyright.

For publication, there an no article processing charges.

Perspective/Viewpoint

These articles are personal views and allow authors to express their point of view on any issues relevant to laboratory Medicine. We like these to include controversial subjects. Up to 700 words excluding references (up to 5-8).